Portable strongboxes are provided for transporting valuables from one location to another. This includes the transport of valuables from armored delivery vehicles to and from safe rooms within buildings serviced by the armored vehicle. In these applications, guards transport the valuables on foot from the armored vehicle through public areas and to the safe room. During the transport through public areas between the armored vehicle and the safe room, the valuables are carried usually within fabric bags. While in the public areas, the maximum jeopardy for attack and robbery of the valuables being transported occurs. Since the fabric bags in which the valuables are transported lend themself to movement by an individual carrier, a robber once in possession of these bags can easily escape with them.
It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a strongbox adapted for manual transport that when out of the grasp of the authorized person transporting the strongbox an antitheft mechanism will be activated which impairs movement of the strongbox.
A more specific object of the invention is a strongbox wherein an antitheft mechanism when activated renders the strongbox incapable of being moved through doorways and along stairways or the like; in addition, the antitheft mechanism when actuated renders the strongbox difficult to grasp, carry or otherwise transport.